Coordinates: 50°20′23″N 4°37′48″W / 50.3397°N 4.6299°W / 50.3397; -4.6299

Bodinnick
230px Bodinnick from Fowey
Bodinnick  Bodinnick shown within Cornwall
OS grid reference	SX130521
Unitary authority	Cornwall
Ceremonial county	Cornwall
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	FOWEY
Postcode district	PL23
Dialling code	01726
Police	Devon and Cornwall
Fire	Cornwall
Ambulance	South Western
EU Parliament	South West England
UK Parliament	South East Cornwall
List of places: UK • England • Cornwall

Bodinnick is a riverside village in south Cornwall, in the United Kingdom. It is a fishing village situated on the east bank of the River Fowey opposite the town of Fowey, also on the banks of the Fowey River. The ferry crossing is from Fowey to Bodinnick and the "Old Ferry Inn" is located on its bank glorified as "in the heart of Du Maurier country". This ferry terminal is said to have existed since the 13th century.^[1][2][3][4]

Daphne du Maurier wrote many novels while living at "Ferryside" (a house that is stated to be still owned by her family) on the river bank at Bodinnick on the eastern shore, opposite to Fowey; she moved to Menabilly later after the publication of her novel Rebecca.^[5]

Geography[link]

Bodinnick looking towards Fowey

Bodinnick lies in the Lanteglos-by-Fowey parish on the banks of the Fowey River. Its importance is due the fact that it was a ferry terminal for people travelling from Fowey.^[6] There is an "Old Ferry Inn" close to the bank of the river here. There is a camp site about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the ferry crossing.^[5] A 4 miles (6.4 km) walk from the ferry crossing at Bodinnick goes through a scenic route called the “Hall Walk” along the Polruan River. A ferry services from here also connects to Fowey.^[7] Hall Walk is along the cliff which is half way up the Bodinnick hill which winds around the Pont Creek.^[8] A creek, which is about 0.3 miles (0.48 km) in length joins an estuary at Pelene Point near about 0.25 miles (0.40 km) from Bodinnick. At the head of this creek there is chapel dedicated to St. Wyllow. Two miles in land to the north up another creek, on its north bank, off Bodinnick, there is the “Cell of Black Monks” from Montacute dedicated to Sa Syricus and Juliette.^[4] Hermit St. Mancus’s festival is held here. St. Wyllow was a contemporary of St. Mancus and Mebbred and his tomb lies one mile away from Bodinnick, where a festival is also held in his honour.^[6] There was also a chapel dedicated to St John the Baptist here.^[9]

History[link]

In August 1644, the king visited Cornwall and an attempt was made on his life with a cannonball, it missed, but was reported to have killed a fisherman nearby.^[10] During the late 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, Bodinnick and the nearby villages of Fowey and Polruan were home to wealthy shipping merchants and master mariners.^[11] The well known families who lived at the time were the Slades, the Salts and the Tadds. These families, for several generations, were involved in trading and transporting local China clay or imported coal with their schooners through the local ferry harbours.^[11] In the 1680s, John Gandy of Exeter supplied cloth to Philippa Randle of Bodinnick, sending consignments both by barge along the coast and across the fields by pack horse.^[12] A shoe maker was also known to live in the village in the 1830s.^[13] Writer Daphne du Maurier lived in a house called Ferryside in Bodinnick for several years.^[14][15]

Vegetation[link]

Centranthus ruber

Hypericum maculatum is seen along the roadside near the ferry crossing. A rare plant known as the Allium ursinum grows during spring as a part of hedges. Centranthus ruber plants are also seen on the old walls.^[16]

Facilities[link]

A ferry service operates between Fowey and Bodinnick and gives its name to The Old Ferry Inn,^[17] a 400-year-old building on the steep lane down to the riverside.^[18] A 4 miles (6.4 km) walk along the hill tops connects Bodinnick to Polruan in the south.^[19]

In Bodinnick Hall Place is a Methodist chapel now in use as a shippen. Features of interest are the north doorway and a western bell turret.^[20]

References[link]